So some women in China, recently flashed their armpit hair for a competition, which got me thinking,what is expected of women in China when it comes to having hair under there?

最近一些中国女性会在比赛中露出腋毛，这让我们不禁好奇中国人对女性有什么要求，特别是腋毛。

Do they shave? If you’re a Chinese woman, do you shave?

她们需要刮吗？如果你是中国女性的话，你刮吗？

I’d love to know because data on this is so limited.

我很想知道这个答案，因为关于这个研究的资料太少了。

But it seems that, in general, Chinese women don’t really shave their armpits.

但是我猜大多数的中国女性是不需要刮腋毛的。

Although, things are starting to change.

尽管事情开始发生改变了。

“Growing up, I’d watched older girls walk around with hair peeking out of their armpits.

从小到大，经常在路上看见有些大点儿的女性，她们的腋毛从腋下露了出来。

Chinese tradition had no demands in this respect,armpit or leg hair was just part of your body and nothing to be ashamed about,” says one Chinese woman of her experience in the early 2000s.

中国传统对这方面没什么讲究。腋毛和腿毛是身体的一部分，没什么难为情的。这是一位中国女性对于20世纪早期的经历所发出的言论。

But today, some reports say that about 40 percent of Chinese women shave, noting these women tend to be younger and of higher socioeconomic status.

但是如今，有报道表明40%的中国女性是刮毛的，并表明这些女性多是年轻或有较高的社会经济地位。

As one 40-year-old house cleaner in China puts it, shaving is "for girls with money and influence.”

正如中国一位40岁的清洁工所说，有钱有影响力的女人才刮毛。

But for Xiao Meili, the competition’s founder, it’s about so much more than that. It’s about agency.

但对于比赛的创始人肖美丽来说，不仅仅只关乎这两项，这关乎女性的权利。

Women should have the right to decide how to deal with their bodies, including small details like armpit hair.

女人们应该有权决定怎么对待她们的身体，包括腋毛这种小地方。

You can choose to shave it, but you shouldn't be forced to do so under the pressure of stereotypes.

你可以选择刮掉它，但你不应该在陈规的压力下这么做。

Her advocacy for gender equality in the hair department, stems in part from increasing Western pressures to groom.

她在毛发部所发表的性别平等的倡议在西方人清理腋毛的压力不断增加下提出。

But how did this difference come about in the first place?

但关于这个差异在一开始是怎么产生的呢？

Why is it that about 80 percent of women in the United States report shaving when the majority of Chinese women do not?

为什么80%的美国女性需要刮毛，然而大多数的中国女性不用呢？

Well first, shaving for women didn’t really become a thing until 1915 or so, but over the years, hairless bodies became the norm.

首先大约1915年前，刮不刮毛不是问题。但是几年后，光滑无毛的身体成为了普遍现象。

To the point that today, women who don’t shave are viewed as more aggressive and even immoral.

甚至如今，不刮毛的女性被认为是粗野、不雅的行为。

China, however, was largely isolated from the US when these ideas were taking hold;

然而中国与美国在很大程度上隔离，这些思想没能传入中国。

So, they were not exposed to the same pressures and ideologies.

所以他们没有面临同样的压力和思想。

And, most traditional dress included sleeves that covered the underarms;

而且许多传统服饰含有袖子，都遮住了腋窝。

during the era of Kaifang women were encouraged to appear androgynous with the Mao jacket and Lenin coat，shaving wasn’t fashionable like it was in the Western world.

在解放时期，女性被鼓励穿着性别特征不明显的衣服（中山装或列宁装）。刮毛不像西方那样流行。

Even with all the Western influence today, Chinese women are actively encouraged not to shave.

即便如今在这样的西方观念影响下，中国女性也不鼓励主动去刮毛。

Some doctors deem hair removal unhealthy and others view it as bad luck.

一些医生认为刮毛是不健康的，其他人也认为这是不吉利的。

Globally, we have a complicated relationship with hair，glorifying the locks atop our heads while literally burning it off at the legs.

世界各个地方的人对体毛有复杂的态度。人们赞美头上浓密的毛发，却要真的马上除尽腿上的毛。

Clearly, when it comes to underarm hair, this relationship is even hairier，but the question still remains, why are we so obsessed with hair in the first place?

显然如果是腋毛的话，问题就更复杂了。但问题仍是为什么我们在一开始就和体毛较劲？

I would love to know your thoughts.

我很愿意听听你们的想法。